


Unknown Futures

by Onceyourempire



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: BENE, Gen, I HAVE RUINED THIS TAG FOR ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS, THIS IS THE FIRST FIC IN THE DASH TAG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-17
Updated: 2011-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:25:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onceyourempire/pseuds/Onceyourempire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dash didn't always know he was gay, and when he did know he got scared.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unknown Futures

**Author's Note:**

> I recently started re-watching Danny Phantom with my friends and after looking at all of the things Dash does when he isn't bullying Danny, I got the idea that maybe
> 
> just maybe
> 
> he could be gay. So I wrote this.
> 
> Darci, the ruler of all things Danny Phantom on campus, approves of this idea. She will read this when she sees the link on Tumblr. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GROUND DARCI.
> 
> Also, I have the most pretentious names for my fanfics. It's not my fault I can never think of titles.

Dash didn't always know that he was gay.

He liked girls for a very long time. Into high school, even.

Freshman year, the signs became clear.

He realized it was weird to still like boy bands, and then realized he liked looking at the boys then actually listening to their music. (To be fair, he really really like the music too. It was a bit scary.)

He told his friends that his little sister chose and named his dog, but she didn't. She believed Pookie to be a terrible name for a dog. He disagreed. It fit her size and breed naturally. She was adorable and adorable pets deserved cutesy names. When he told her that, she just looked at him and shook her head.

The final straw was when he met his (now ex) girlfriend's brother and stopped breathing for about twenty seconds. He, at the time, believed it to be because he was more intimidating than Dash (admittedly, quite a feat) but when said brother kissed him the next month and Dash stopped breathing again, he had to admit the truth.

Maybe he was bi, he thought. Maybe it was a phase.  
He couldn't be gay- he was a star football player, a jock with a stream of hot girls dying to date him, the epitome of straight excellence.

But if it was a phase, it continued through the year and into the next. That seemed a bit long for a phase.

He could be bi, but he started to find girls less and less appealing, his pointer finger was longer than his ring finger, a supposed sign of gayness, and his sister came out. Siblings tended to be of the same sexual orientation.

The internet told him that these things were true, so they obviously had to be- right?

Dash was forced to look at himself in the mirror and admit the fearful truth, especially when Danny Phantom came around. Dash was enamored from the first moment he saw the ghost boy. He was so strange, so beautiful, so exciting. He was strangely appealing in ways Dash couldn't define. He found himself chasing after Danny Phantom and cheering for him whenever he was around and fighting ghosts. Everyone else was too, sure, but he had to fight to not swoon like the cheerleaders did as opposed to yelling and whooping like his football friends.

One time, Danny Phantom looked him in the eye. He looked surprised but flew off without a word. Dash felt shaky for half an hour afterwards. He went home and collapsed on his bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to deal with the confused butterflies in his stomach.

But even that didn't confirm it. It wasn't until the next day, when a bold girl with a crush kissed him and he thought of the ghost boy, that he knew without a doubt that he was gay.

It was scary and even scarier when he thought about how his peers would react. He honestly had no idea how his friends would react, never mind how his bullying targets would see him. Would he lose all of his "street cred"? Who would be afraid of a gay kid? The fear of his whole life changing because of one stupid simple thing punched him in the gut daily. He didn't know how his little sister dealt with it. Perhaps it was because she didn't care about her appearance as much. He thought she was so damn lucky.

He could only pretend so long. He wanted to pretend forever, but he knew that he could only keep it a secret for as long as Danny Phantom wasn't around. Every time he flew past, Dash felt dizzy, enthralled, and giddier than a five year old at Christmas. He knew that his crush (that's what it was, no doubt or two ways about it) would trip him up someday.

Dash waited for that day with a mixture of dread and impending relief. Until then, he continued to act as he always had- he played football, he shoved kids in lockers, and he had trouble sleeping because he was too busy thinking of his unknown future.


End file.
